Marilinda has been on my mind and prayer list
She is one of the kids that I have known vaguely for about three years. She is about 16 years old and an elusive shy type. Her facial features clearly alert one to the fact that she is a special kid and with limited intellectual capacity. Her skin is splotchy with dark freckle like discoloration. Her teeth are straight and well aligned, but profoundly discolored like those you see in the elderly. She has a form of PICA and everything she sees and touches she is compelled to taste with her tongue.
Recently, I have been trying to reach out to her and make contact. Her hyper-activity and complete lack of verbal skills make her very hard to relate to. She is frequently around a group of kids I will be working with, but blinks your eyes and she is gone. Holding her hand is challenging both because of her hyperactivity and the unappealing nature of what ever may have been in her mouth and hand.
Legend has it that she was brought to us by social services to protect her from her aggressively negligent family. Apparently, they would lock her in a closet for days on end with no food. She reverted to eating her own feces and apparently will still ingest many strange things though she receives more than adequate nutritious meals.
With so many children at the center, she manages to be lost in the mix. The aggressive children consume the energy and attention of the staff and a kid like her tries to fly under the radar. She avoids problems and therefor is fairly independent and isolated. In a primitive way, I think she must be very savvy. She needs to remain safe and fed, yet avoids the potential physical aggression of the most problemtaic kids.
Some days I feel like I am living a mixture of: Jane Goodall, Richard Leakey and Dr. LIvingstone. And that we are testing a revised role playing of, "The Stockholm Syndrome."
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